Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Drum Major, If You Please

Every parade must have a leader, and it's usually those who are adept at it who are asked to do it most often. So it comes as no surprise to me that ESPN resident hair-puller Pat Forde has decided to fire the first shot in the Weis-to-Willingham idiocy parade this year with his article today.

If memory serves, he was the first out of the gate last year on the subject when Washington started 4-1 and ND got handled by Michigan. But then the Irish peeled off eight straight wins while the Huskies lost six in a row (including that 20-3 decision to powerhouse Stanford), and Forde and the rest of the intellectually bankrupt muckrakers stuck their heads back in the hole, waiting for the next chance.

I don't want to link it because contributing to the decline of society by making people dumber is a mortal sin. You're welcome to hunt for and read it yourself, and on your own head be it. But I'll pull a couple of paragraphs here and there so you get the gist.

Domers, Your Credibility Is On The Clock. When Notre Dame trap-doored Tyrone Willingham after just three years on the job in 2004, it established a precedent for the next coach: You've got three years, pal. Have it up and running at full speed or else.

Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat. So stupid so quick. Can't you even let the reader settle in before hitting them over the head with a mistake?

That's not the precedent, big guy. That's not even close.

No one was asking Tyrone Willingham to "have it up and running at full speed" in his third year, although that would have been nice. What they were asking him to do was improve on the previous regime while setting a good foundation for future success. And Willingham didn't even come close to succeeding on that score.

It wasn't just that ND wasn't competitive on the field for two and a half seasons (which would have been three outside of fortuitous bounces on defense). It also wasn't looking any better any time soon. Aside from a quality class in his first year (coached by Weis to the best first-two-season win total of any ND coach in its history), Willingham and his staff bumbled to two mediocre-at-best classes in a row to follow it up. After three seasons of ineptitude on offense and haphazard results on defense (to say nothing of atrocious special teams), no coaching changes were in the offing. And yet the golf course continued to beckon, at the expense of gameplanning and meeting with high school coaches and getting support from alumni and all sorts of other duties Willingham neglected in his three years in South Bend.

Willingham knew as well as Notre Dame did that the relationship wasn't working. That's why his reps were talking to Washington in October of that year, why his contract had a special buyout clause at the end of the third season (when if he'd done well, he'd be NFL bound), and why he refused to make any assistant coaching changes at the end of his third season when his bosses suggested very strongly he do so.

He could afford to be insubordinate. He had his golden (domed) parachute, both financial and philosophical. He goes sailing off into the purple sunset with many millions of ND's dollars -- more than had ever been paid to any non-African American football coach in school history, by the way -- while the Irish would have to deal with the small-minded fallout from people who couldn't see past the color of Willingham's skin to take in the (lack of) content of his character.

Yes, coaches should get at least a fourth year as a rule. Some turnaround jobs are harder than others. But those coaches should be willing to meet the school halfway. Those coaches should be able to identify what's not working and make moves to try and make fixes. Those coaches should at least pretend they're interested in a career at their place of employment.

Willingham's recruiting was in the toilet. His offenses scared no one. His defenses were hit-or-miss. His relationships with high school coaches were terrible. His relationships with a lot of the ND alumni clubs, including those that had bent over backwards to help him feel welcome, were worse.

And what was he doing to fix those things? Absolutely nothing.

So what would the point of a fourth year have been, other than to dig Notre Dame into an even deeper hole? One more year of bad recruiting. One more year slipping away from the rank of winningest college program. One more year of players and fans walking away.

What would that have accomplished?

Oh, I have no doubt it would have accomplished a lot for the people who don't like Notre Dame or who thrive on mindless rhetoric. But I don't think it would have done much for us, the alumni and fans, and in the end, our opinions, needs and wants count a lot more than the haters'. And thank God for that.

At least you have the intellectual honesty to admit "Weis coached many of Willingham's players better than Willingham ever did". A logician would have recognized that as being the overall point and stopped there. Quelle surprise you did not, talking about what the "Willingham players" and the "Weis players" have accomplished on offense.

Of course, you fail to note how in most programs, upperclassmen are expected to contribute more than underclassmen, a condition exacerbated at a place like Notre Dame that does not allow automatic redshirting. And it should probably be noted that the Weis version of Quinn, Samardzija, Stoval, et al, were ten times the players the Willingham versions were (which, again, would be the overall point).

Should Charlie Weis be on the hot seat? Right now, no. When you spend two years giving the fans the results they want while working very hard to ensure a strong future, you build goodwill that takes you through the rough patches. And that has nothing to do with his Caucasianality and everything to do with knowing his job and doing it.

But his seat is certainly warming. If we're having this same conversation about ineptitude on offense this time next year, you can bet his tushie will be more than a little singed.

I would like to take the time to thank you for blasting the haters,they want every opportunity to kick ND every chance they get and NOW is no different.The Haters want to scare the number one recruiting class away because they know should every one who has commited to ND the program will be on top and unstoppable.Coach is do all that he can and i see what he's doing will handsdown have this program where it needs to be and the haters will have nothing to do or say but crawl back into that hole.GO IRISH !!!!!!!!

I'm so torn about this Saturday. As an Ohio resident watching the angst if OSU loses to UW would be a nice salve for our recent pain, but the bleating from the ESPN'ers is a fairly steep price to pay for such joy. Given that I rarely watch TV or read ESPN articles, but work with many OSU fans (Who I must say have been remarkably quiet since the little debacle vs UF...) I'm going to have to root for tie and let the morons on ESPN blather about how TW @ UW is for real.

additionally, mcknight and stovall were highly recruited out of high school, and by the time weis arrived they were being out produced by a baseball player (formally a scout team under the wilingham regime). how does that work? Within the next year or 2, after this years freshman are baptized by the difficult schedule, ND will be back to its winning ways and Forde and Mark May will e greatly saddened.

No disrespect to you or your column. I think you did an excellent job dissecting this situation. I saw your post because it was linked by one of the user at ESPN.com after the Pat Forde article. I just want to point out that, the fact that you and other Notre Dame apologists had to go to such great extent to defend Weis is an indication that this situation does merit discussions from people like Pat Forde and numerous experts who comment on college football for a living. Most people, except Notre Dame fans, would agree that firing Ty after his third year (when most coaches get 4 year as the standard) is a bit unsettling at the very least, and racist double standard at the very worst. I think the correct answer is somewhere in between.

From the moment I finished reading Forde's article I've been steaming at the thought of peoples ineptitude to see past the hate for the Irish and their fans. This rebutle will help me sleep tonight. Thank you

Justin-Real Fans bring passion and character to the game, not ridicule.

A glutton for idiocy, I found Forde's article and read it. Another candidiate for a medal for sportswriting on the 9th grade level. Ooops, sorry, 9th-graders.

Am I missing something, or is ND about the only football program to inspire widespread moral indignation among sportswriters. I mean, if Nebraska has a bad year, do the national sportwriters/talking heads issue long diatribes to point out what a phony the coach is?

One thing that people have overlooked when talking about TW is that if he had stayed for another year it would have probably gotten really ugly for him. ND knew which direction the program was going and they knew he was in over his head. ND actually did him a favor by getting rid of him when they did. It was the best thing for both parties.

Most people, except Notre Dame fans, would agree that firing Ty after his third year (when most coaches get 4 year as the standard) is a bit unsettling at the very least, and racist double standard at the very worst.

No, I don't think most people would.

As I pointed out, Ty was not taking any steps to correct the things that were (very) wrong with his Notre Dame program. Had he done so, I believe he would have been given at least four years, possibly five. But he didn't, which is why he was fired.

And I'm waiting for someone to explain how this program that allegedly employs a "racist double standard" graduates African American players at one of the highest rates in the country (and has consistently done so) and is, as far as I'm aware, the only major D1 school to have African Americans at both coordinator positions. The horribly-wronged Willingham has, I believe, yet to hire an African American as a coordinator. I know he never did at ND.

One of the Anonymous posters says "...the fact that you...had to go to such great extent to defend Weis is an indication that this situation does merit discussion from people like Pat Forde..."

It's correct to say that the situation merits discussion (you can't argue with the fact that zero yards rushing merits discussion). It is incorrect to draw the inference from that fact that the head coach is the problem. Weis doesn't pull from the guard position, he doesn't protect the qb's blind side, and he doesn't punch it in from the one. He is stuck with the talent he inherited from TW. For two years, he maximized that talent (thank you Pat Forde for acknowledging that simple fact), and now, he's run out of that talent, and hasn't had enough time to recruit enough players to fill in the gaps.

The Anonymous poster also says "...firing Ty after his third year ... is a bit unsettling at the very least and racist double standard at the very worst. I think the correct answer is somewhere in between."

That comment would have some merit if TW's results, both on the playing field, and on the recruiting front, had been at least equivalent to Bob Davie's, since Davie got five years. Davie's results on the field were arguably equivalent to Ty's, but his recruiting was certainly monumentally better. Indeed, Ty's first year was largely the result of inheriting great defensive talent from Davie (a lot of people have forgotten that Davie got fired for incredible offensive ineptitude, but his defense in his last year was fabulous). With Davie, at least you could say he was bringing in players. With Ty, you just couldn't say that.

Notre Dame is now paying the price for Ty's last two years of indifference to recruiting. Once this virgin offensive line starts to gel just a little, the quality offensive players will be able to shine. And next year, oh God, it's going to be something, and the year after that, we're going to be awesome. ND haters, get your shots in now, because like ND lovers have endured long years of frustration, your years of frustration are just beginning!

I think that every Willingham basher/Weis apologist needs to step back a second and just accept the fact that the media are going to harshly judge Weis and the University this year.

It is undeniable that the University badly mishandled the firing of Willingham and then embarassed itself with its inept courting of Urban Meyer. Follow that Stooges episode with the ridiculous contract extension for accomplishing exactly nothing and the media has a lot harp on.

In Weis' tenure he has managed to to beat Michigan once, produced 4 straight 20 point losses, and managed to continue to lose to USC. Weis managed to get a pass when Michigan State stopped playing last season and handed Weis a win in a game where his team, as they were in their 3 losses last season, was woefully unprepared.

Let's not forget The so-called "insiders" at NDNation KNEW Meyer was a done deal, and then proceeded to rip him apart when he revealed his deal with Florida. Ripping the media for questioning Weis is fairly hypocritical for a member of the "NDNation" crowd. A crowd that had been ntohing but spectacularly anti-Urban Meyer for the simple reason that he alread had another job when the 2 Stooges went out to Utah.

I'm not worried about the perceived double standard that people will have in regards to the coaching situation. What I am worried about is the play of our team, which is beyond horrible. Coach Weiss has not asked for any excuses so don't give him any. It's time for him to prove that he's not like Davie or Willingham. It's time for him turn these athletes into the "nasty" football players he said he was when he was hired. If he doesn't begin to show he can do that the rest of this season and next then it will be time for him to go too!

A crowd that had been ntohing but spectacularly anti-Urban Meyer for the simple reason that he alread had another job when the 2 Stooges went out to Utah.

No, we're anti-Urban Meyer for a lot of other reasons.

1) Taking the interview with ND folks and having them fly out to Utah knowing very well he had another deal.

2) Lying to committed ND recruits about aspects of the school, including (but not limited to) attempting to play the race card based on Weis' play of Jones vs. Clausen with at least one player in the current class.

Urban has ethics issues. If you don't believe us, ask some of his fellow D1 coaches, who dislike him even more than we do.

yeah, I read that article. The more I read it the more angred I got. I was hoping I weren't the only one steaming from it. Who cares if you black, get the job done or go home.I like how they failed to mention the student revolt after the last home game. Where they were going to return all the 'Return to Glory' shirts to the steps of the Administration Building... I would have FEDEX'd mine. We're in a bit of a lull right now, but each game I see some improvement. I'm not worried.

Thanks so much for that. I nearly stormed out of my office to hunt down Pat Forde and cut off his hands before reading that very well written reponse.

Talk about lazy journalism on Pat Forde's part. No remote mention of the Day and Night difference between the two coaches on the recruiting trail. No remote mention of the gapping holes in our Junior and Senior classes due to Ty's ineptitude. No remote attempt to do anything but pander to ND haters.

The very fact that Willingham did not own up to his lack of success at ND is a testament to what kind of person he is. When all the racial accusations started flying around he should have stood up and took responsibility for himself and his actions. He should have come out like a man and said something like this:

First off, Notre Dame is not racist, and yes it is true that I have been trying to hide the fact that I have been golfing a lot and I have not been living up to my responsibilities as the head coach at Notre Dame, my record and my recruiting classes speak for themselves. I have been looking to get back into the PAC 10 where people think I have had some sort of success; Washington was interested in me so I took it. I was not forced out at Notre Dame it was an amicable decision. Notre Dame has paid me and is going to keep paying me an incredible amount of money for my ineptitude. I do feel some what guilty for hiding my intentions but I had to think of myself and make my move. If I would have tried to finish out my contract at Notre Dame and had two more losing seasons and two more poor recruiting classes I would be looked upon as a complete failure and then who would want me for a head coach. The time was right for me to make my move, who in their right mind would go down with a sinking ship.

Sorry I’m not a writer but I think you get the point.

He should have stood up like a man and took responsibility, but he is not capable of doing that. Now I hear he sits in on classes to ensure his players go to class. The guy does not have a clue…it’s all about Ty.

Is there a way to forward this message to Mr. Forde? He seems to need some insight as to how it really was with Willingham and how it is now in the recovery process. I'd hate to see him keep making people dumber with his writings...

There is no need to forward anything to Pat Forde. He knows the situation. He chooses to ignore it, stir up some controversy so his column at ESPN draws hits from the ND lovers and haters.

In a year or two when my beloved Irish are annually ranked in the top 10 and contending to compete in the BCS championship game under Weis, Forde will write a column stating Willingham could have done the same thing if he was gven 5 or 6 years.

Again, it will all be total BS. Forde will know the facts. He'll choose to ignore them, all for the sake of his column drawing millions of hits from the ND haters as well as the faithful.

The days of well thought, fair or balanced journalism are over. It is a cut throat world these days, with every media organization attempting to maximize ad revenue through web sites, print, TV, etc.

The media went public. Shares are traded on the stock market.

The owners don't want fair and balanced. Integrity in journalism died years ago when the family owner local newspaper sold out to a mega corporations. Now it is all about the mighty dollar. The more web hits, the more advertising revenue can be generate -- the main reason why I left the profession.

Truth be told, Pat Farce could give a rat's ass about TW or Charlie, but he needs that fat ESPN pay check. The more he can stir the pot, the more hits his column gets, the more job security he attains.

And yes, I contributed to the problem by reacting to his crap. But when ND is trying to rebuild its foundation, it doesn't need disinformation spread by nitwits affecting that progress. Better that ND fans have counterpoints at their disposal.

Well said. There really should be no reason to get upset about these Ty-Charlie comparisons. Anyone with any logic at all knows they are ridiculous. And besides, its going to be a moot point anyways when Charlie has 4 full classes on the roster and he's winning like he's the second coming of Rockne. Just be patient, people

It's not like we lost to Appalachian State, for goodness sake! We lost to two teams that the all-knowing espn'ers have tabbed as BCS Bowl bound. Let's just see how the rest of the season goes before comparing Weis to Willingham (ugh! They shouldn't even be in the same sentence!)

I think it is all about expectations. Exceeding expectations is great; meeting expectations is O.K.; not meeting expectations is bad.

Fair or unfair, the third year for Willingham had higher expectations than Weis has for his third year. Because of these different expectations, the same people who were upset with Willingham for his failures will not be upset with Weis for his failures. Expectations are powerful, aren’t they?

I would also like to point out that resorting to personal attacks against Mr. Forde (“So stupid so quick”) is not a way to win an argument. Argue facts; please do not to resort to personal attacks.

The bottom line on Ty and his 'departure', and Coach Weis and his 'going nowhere' is trajectory. Ty's was45 degrees downward. Coach Weis' is at least 80 degrees upward (90 is straight up). If you prefer an EKG analogy: Ty flatlined, while Charlie is a very strong andsteady beat.

A note from the subway. I have been a Irish fan since birth because I am Irish. This football team means everything to us. Charlie will turn it around and we will regain our rightful place in the college football world. Ty could have cared less. We the "Subway Alumni" are and forever will be faithful. GO IRISH!!!!!!

Thank you so much for your logical and accurate dissection of Forde's article. I read the article and forwarded it on to many other ND alum who were angered, to say the least, about the way he turned the whole issue into a "race" thing and not stats based on the season's performances. The one part that irritated me beyond ALL belief was his statement about ND lowering its academic standards. Is that true? I have been doing some research and have come up with nothing. I really hope it isn't because the academic environment of ND is difficult and the fact that we have such a high percentage rate for graduating athletes is something that I am proud to say.

Thanks for this riposte. Thanks for *not* contributing to the downfall of society by feeding forde's frenzy.

To those concerned that ND might be dumbing down the program, consider that for the firs time in the history of the program there have been back-to-back-to-back semesters with team GPA's above 3.0.

Weis is seeing to it that the players get it done in the classroom. Now it's time to get it done on the field. This team will grow and there's more help on the way. (You've got to love > Crist's attitude.)

Finally, in response to the persistent charge that ND fans are hypocritical for crying "stop comparing Ty & Weis!" and then providing stats: We aren't comparing, we're contrasting; because there is no comparison!

Mr Forde comments are a joke. Ty was fired for being a terrible coach and he has to credit Davie for that.. If there was no Davie.. Ty would have been here longer. We could not wait.

My concerns are: Something is still wrong this year. You can speak about youth and inexperience... however, something just does not seem right.. Can we label him an offensive guru ... We can not block...

How does a lower division team like Alps State score 30 plus points on this Michigan team and we can not get positive yards....

My question to all: If we lose to Duke & Navy or even one of them... Do we make a change?.... We are looking at 0-12 season, if we do not correct things...

The "debate" on Willingham vs. Weis is not even close...follow the recruiting...follow the recruiting. While Weis is playing Willingham's 5th year seniors, seniors and juniors...Willingham is playing (besides an excellent true freshman QB Locker) previous coach Gilbertson's 5th year seniors, seniors and juniors. In three years at ND Weis has recruited 18 Top 100 HS players (Rivals.com). In three years at UW Willingham has recruited 1 Top 100 HS player (Locker). And to add insult to injury...in three years at ND...Willingham recruited 3 Top 100 players... none in the year he was fired.

I am not sure why we are talking about the past. I am worried about the future. Is Charlie the right person? He supposely can recruit, not sure about that yet. WE have the worst football team in America. We went from Top 10 to the bottom real quick.

At the beginning of the season.. I was pretty positive... I thought the worst we could do is go 6-6 maybe surprise a few people.

In the first 3 games... My thoughts went in this progression:

> Maybe we can Win a game> Maybe we can keep the game close> Ok!! Lets not get blown out> Can we lease Score a TD> maybe we can get a field goal> Lets cross the 50 yard line with our offense> Can we get a couple of first downs> Can we get positive yards

This team sucks... They might go 0-12... I was thinking we could beat Navy and Duke... I do not know now... Something is wrong. Has the team quit on the coach?

We should not worry about Ty... I think Charlie is in a pickle and ND has this guy wrapped up for a few years. We are going to start losing recruits...

Thanks, Mike, for an insightful article. Reading the other comments, positive and negative, has been great as well. Most fans don't know all that goes into a football program, or the downstream effects of past recruiting efforts, or the fact that you have to be a good student first (and what that really means) to even get into ND. Most fans, haters and Domers alike, are so cued into the W/L column that they're blinded to everything else. No team in the history of college football has been on top every year. Michigan is having a hard go this year. USC has had theirs. Oklahoma and Nebraska have had theirs. Miami and FSU are having theirs (yea!). We have ours. I've seen the 'Gerry Faust era' turn around, and often wish we still had Lou, who also fell into disfavor among Irish fans. I liked Coach Davie's D, just not his O. Ty gave us some moments, but his work off the field is evidently still with us. We may go 0-12 this year, but, hard as it will be, it won't be the end of the world. How we meet adversity is what makes us Irish. Giving up isn't in the recipe.

what worries me is the ineptitude of the university officials, other than weiss, who are involved with decision making for the football program. remember faust, davie, willingham, myer. thats a lot of screw-ups. will and does weiss have control like sabin did with lsu and has with alabama. he'd better. n.d. football needs to be run like a fortune 500 company. most universities and their programs dont run like that. southbend is not a magnet for much except the n.d. football program. lets hope weiss has all the control he needs and the rest of the amateurs step aside. they finally got it right hiring weiss; now they need to sit down and shut up and stay out of it. dg nd'67